CommunityFortress

I would like to introduce you to a pick-up game system that was launched this last month. For those who don't know what a pick-up game is, it's an organized game, with rules, that happens when enough players are gathered together to play. The difference between a scrim and a pick-up is that a pick-up is not scheduled and is formed with teams that are built on the fly. The concept of pick-up games is not new - it's been around in computer gaming for decades and in sports for much longer. But pick-up games in competitive TF2 are still young.

The reason these games happen is because there's a crowd of players that wants to play games that have more structure than pubs. Gaming on public servers can be very fun but it's lacking some things that makes pick-up games more exciting and challenging. Here is a list of things a PUG can provide :
- An equal and predefined number of opponents that will play the whole match.
- A predefined maximum amount of time that a game can last.
- A great chance that players are going to hold their assigned positions during the match.
- And of course a higher level of cooperation.

Six months ago I created from scratch a program that can connect itself to an IRC channel and help people make PUGs. I did it mostly to improve the system that was being used by the community at the time, which was just a copy of a Counter-Strike bot. Their system was working and a lot of people were using it because it was one of the few options for PUGing available. But at the same time TF2 is a more complex game than Counter-Strike, so even though it was providing us games there were some major problems. And this is what I tried to improve. It took a lot of effort and time but after a while the older channel collapsed and my channel became the place where better PUGs are played. Unfortunately, this also created the negative effect of PUG noobs having a hard time getting in games.

That's why last month I started a new channel with different mechanics. The channel is still young but we are getting fun games played there. There is also place for improvement and I am getting ideas already about what could be added. From the features that may interest some of you there is detailed statistics after every matches. And the system can makes highlander (9v9, 1 of every classes) games.

How to and what you need to play there :
- You need to join the chat, you can download an IRC client and join us on #tf2.pug on irc.gamesurge.net or you can simply use this web service : http://www.mibbit.com/networks/gamesurge/tf2.pug.html
- Once you are in the chat, in order to play you have to subscribe for a game. This can be done by typing "!add class". Example : !add demo
- Have the VoIP client installed to talk with your teammate when you play a match. For more information about this type "!mumble" in the chat.
- Once a game is started you have to join the TF2 server, it's simple, the information is sent to you when it happens.
- Cooperate with your teammates and listen to admins.

Last but not least, Apoplexy Industries is now supporting us by providing us 4 high quality servers.

So, I hope you will get interested by this and will give it a try. Because PUGs are great to get new friends in the community while providing you a place to play challenging games in a competitive environment.